WALLA WALLA, Wash. - A valiant comeback from 16 points down with less than 10 minutes left by George Fox University went for naught in the final 66 seconds as the Whitman College Missionaries hung on to win a 90-85 shootout over the Bruins  in Northwest Conference men's basketball action Friday night here at the Sherwood Center.

George Fox, in its first conference road game of the season, suffered its first league loss while falling to 5-7 overall and 2-1 in the NWC.  Whitman, one of only two teams in the conference with an overall record over .500 (Whitworth University is the other), improved to 8-4 on the season and 2-1 in league play.

A three-pointer by Dan Lingenfelder gave George Fox an early 5-2 lead, but Whitman answered with a layup by Daniel Davidson and a three by Jordan Wheeler to take a 7-5 lead, and they led the rest of the half. The Missionaries' full-court defense pressured the Bruins into 19 first-half turnovers, but the Bruins hung tough with a hot shooting hand (16-29 for a .552 percentage) and a huge 27-9 advantage on the boards.  Whitman took a nine-point lead of 39-30 on a layup and free throw by Wheeler with 3:05 to go before the Bruins stormed back, Travis Toedtemeier's three with eight seconds left cutting the Missionaries' lead to 42-41 at the intermission.

A Stephen Wiseley layup to open the second half gave George Fox its first lead since the early moments of the game, and a Rich Smith three-pointer made it 46-44 Bruins a minute in.  Whitman went back ahead on a three by Peter Clark, and Smith tied it 49-49 with a jumper with 18:03 left.  Brandon Shaw's free throws at 17:54 broke the deadlock and started a 25-9 Whitman outburst over the next seven minutes that made it a 16-point game at 74-58.  Brady Brent's three-pointer capped the run at 9:53, but it was the last field goal the Missionaries would make for over eight minutes as the Bruins battled back.    

Wiseley got the Bruins going by scoring all the points in a 10-1 run, hitting two layups and two threes that made it 75-68 with 7:25 left.  Continuing their comeback as the Missionaries scored on nothing but free throws, Alex Stockner's layup with 2:55 to go finally knotted the game at 81-81.  David Michaels' two free throws with 2:36 left gave Whitman a two-point lead, but Jack Martin drove for a tying basket to make it 83-83 with 1:37 remaining.

After a Whitman miss, the Bruins rebounded the ball, but LuQuam Thompson made a steal and Justin Artis hit a three-pointer with 1:06 showing as the Missionaries went up 86-83.  Stockner missed a jumper with 45 seconds left and Thompson hit a free throw for a four-point Whitman lead with 38 seconds to play, then the Bruins turned the ball over again and had to foul to get the ball back.  Brandon Shaw hit two free throws and Artis one in the final 18 seconds to offset a last layup by Stockner.

The Bruins shot a splendid .569 (33-58) from the field to .435 (27-62) for the Missionaries and finished with a 43-25 advantage on the boards, but were hurt by 33 turnovers to only 17 for the home team.  A huge free throw discrepancy proved costly as well as George Fox made 10-of-17 to Whitman's 23-of-33. 

Smith posted his third double-double of the season for the Bruins with 23 points and 12 rebounds, while Stockner added 18 points, Wiseley 14, and Evan Atwater 11.  Atwater handed out five assists.

Shaw topped the Missionaries with 23 points, Artis had 20, and Michaels tallied 10.  Michaels led the team with three rebounds, while Thompson had five assists and Shaw made four steals.

NOTES: George Fox finishes its eastern Washington trip Saturday at Whitworth, tipping off against the Pirates at 8:00 p.m. ... Whitman hosts the Pacific University Boxers Saturday, also at 8:00 p.m. ... Both are conference games which will be preceded by women's matches at 6:00 p.m.